


Unwavering Resolve

by BlushingMuse



Category: Star Wars: Thrawn Series - Timothy Zahn (2017)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-16
Updated: 2020-08-16
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:09:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,608
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25927924
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlushingMuse/pseuds/BlushingMuse
Summary: Some Lieutenant Commander Eli'van'to and Navigator Vah'nya fluff and smut post Thrawn Treason.
Relationships: Vah'nya & Eli Vanto, Vah'nya/Eli Vanto
Comments: 4
Kudos: 14





	Unwavering Resolve

With over a year on the _Steadfast_ , the thought of being invited to a party was almost baffling. Things hadn’t gone according to plan during their last mission, and their ship had received much damage. Enough that the course back to Csilla had been neither easy nor quick. Once there, they had docked the warship for repair, extensive repair. Or so the engineers he’d crossed had claimed. Entire parts of the ship had been shut down during travel, exposed to the vacuum of space, placing the crew in much tighter quarters.  
Even so, their destruction of the grysk warships and elimination of their operation in the Empire had been a success. One that had yielded vital, if not unnerving information.  
Un’Hee’s testimony of her time with their enemies had caused a ripple of fear and distrust throughout those that had been privy to the information. Still, her return needed to be celebrated, along with that of their Defense Force that had brought her back.

While he stood outside the turbo lift that had brought him down the hall from the gala being held, he paused and took it all in.  
His whole life had been lived under the Empire, climbing the ranks, trying to make his life slightly better than his family’s shipping company. Life had been easy until he’d come across Thrawn, or rather it hadn’t been too hard given the circumstances.  
Then the tables had turned. He’d found himself the one on the outs. Distrusted, struggling to find his place amid people that were different from him. Similarly to his superior officer's treatment within the Empire that had sent him here.  
This was the difference, he thought as he moved through the glossy halled walls. In the distance he could hear music flowing, a cadence he was unfamiliar with.

“Lieutenant Commander Vanto,” Ar’alani’s voice came as he neared her. Quickly she introduced him to a number of people she was discussing with. A member of the Aristocra, another Admiral, and another prominent figure.  
Eli had nodded and spoken to the best of his ability. Though his Cheuhn had come a long way, it was still foreign on his tongue. A few exchanges were made, discussion of his attack on the grysks, his promotion to Lieutenant Commander, and of course, the hopes that he would succeed in his research. Soon, he pulled away, needing time to gather himself. Only recently had he discovered what exactly he had been looking at, or rather what he was looking for.

It had taken some time to track down a drink. Though he had been accepted among the crew of the _Steadfast_ , this wasn’t the case here. This room filled with strangers to him. He couldn’t help but feel sympathy for Thrawn. He had witnessed his treatment within the Empire, but now, he was the admirals equivalent here on Csilla. Accepted yet alienated.

“You came,” her voice came from behind.

Eli turned and looked over at the young woman with a smile. She’d always been kind to him on board the ship. Now in this setting he might not have recognized her hadn’t she made the first move. Her uniform traded for a dress that highlighted her curves. Instead of her usual utilitarian bun atop her head, the top of her hair was tied back in a careful bun, the rest of her ebony hair cascading over her delicate shoulders.

“Navigator Vah’nya,” he nodded his head in acknowledgement.  
Suppressing his reactions as best he could. Still, his breath caught as his heart rate increased, things he was certain she would have noted alongside the light flush in his cheeks and the bob in his throat.  
“Vah’Nya will do,” she told him simply.

His lips parted to respond, and rather than speak, he sighed and nodded. He supposed he could do so. He’d wanted to.

“You’re very quiet,” she teased him, smiling over her glass, her red eyes met his.

“Just taking it all in.”

“You are in part a guest of honor.”

“As are you.”

The reminder did nothing to put him at ease. Still, this gala wasn’t for him, he knew that. Even though he had been instrumental, this was as much for the entire crew as it was for the governmental branch to highlight a victory.  
Much of the politics was unknown to the Lieutenant Commander, but he knew that there was discord. From the journal Thrawn had left him to read, and from the subtext his peers had offered, he had pieced things together. The Chiss were on the verge of civil war. Doom and fear could only go so far with a civilization of Empiricists. Beyond that, regardless of the cold logic, politics always came into play. He’d heard it many times before, read it in historical texts. Even the strongest forces could be brought down by policy making and the crawl of legislative action.

“Can you dance?”

Eli paused. He must have lost himself to thought because he knew shock had lifted his brows.  
“I can,” he replied carefully, already preparing himself to backtrack. Before he could do so, her thin fingers reached for his. A touch that wasn’t unwelcome, or perhaps the fact that it wasn’t gave him away.

The navigator set down her glass, and took his away to do the same. A smile spread on her plump lips. He could have sworn he noticed a deeper shade of blue on her cheeks that echoed the pink in his own.

“Now?” he asked.

A light laugh fell from her lips. “Yes.”

There were many reasons why he shouldn’t have accepted. She was a navigator. He was an outsider. Everyone in this room would no sooner revere her than they would dare be as close as he was to her. Of course most Navigators were children, which Vah’Nya wasn’t. The fact that he was studying her data, all of the Navigators data only made him wonder if this complicated that. No, he could deal with numbers. All of her numbers. What she was, and what was on his computer were different despite being the same. His feelings wouldn’t change his oath, he knew that. Still, he was an Imperial, now a member of the Chiss Defense Fleet. He could only imagine how this appeared from the outside.

“You’re overthinking again,” she accused gently, placing his hands on her hips before reaching around his neck. Those long blue fingers of hers brushing the rectangles at the collar of his uniform. “The Chiss Defense Fleet uniform suits you better than what you wore before” she said thoughtfully, as if she could see both as she looked at him. Or perhaps she could.

“Just trying not to step on your toes…”  
His throat did that bob thing again, his collar making him feel like it framed the small giveaway, brought it forward. Heat coursed through his limbs, his heart still maintaining that speed, only this time it wasn’t impending battle and improbable odds that were the cause.

The small smile on her lips reminded him of the reality of it. She likely could avoid any of it. Third Sight perhaps wasn’t merely for _sky walking_ as the Cheuhn word for it suggested.

“Ah,” he sounded in understanding.

“Are you not having a good time?” she asked.

“Wh-No,” he struggled to get his answer out. “A little overwhelmed is all,” he responded honestly.  
Numbers, cracking codes with mere moments to spare, even leading a TIE Defender assault aboard a nearly destroyed Chiss ship felt less troublesome than this. In those cases, if he failed, the problem was someone else’s, but here? If he failed, the consequences could be dire for him, for Vah’Nya, for Admiral’s Ar’alani and Thrawn. A single step out of line could be a catalyst for a much greater issue of far worse consequences.

“Are there no events such as these where you’re from?”

The question was so innocent, it had him take a breath to soothe himself. “There are,” he noted. “I was only ever invited as an ensign assigned to Grand Admiral Thrawn,” he said thoughtfully. Of course in time that was not longer quite accurate, but it had been. “Can’t say I danced at any of the ones I was invited to on Coruscant,” he admitted.

“But you have danced?”

His mind went back to Lysatra and the simpler times he’d known before heading off to the Academy. Even that hadn’t been easy, but in contras to being entangled with Mitth’raw’nuoduo throughout his last year and following years, it might as well have been perfectly calm.  
“I have. A few times,” he added. “Not quite like this,” he admitted.  
A few nights out of the Academy had led to dancing with strangers in clubs, at least until his origins were known. Of course there were the times as a child with his mother to some song or another playing in her office to distract him from the chores of the day. Neither had meant anything, not in the way being so close to Vah’nya felt. He’d had experience, though not like this. He’d always been an outsider. At the Academy he’d been a yokel, and here, well, he doubted he could be discreet or hidden from view.

“Then is it because it is with me that you are uncomfortable?”

His eyes widened, lips pulling in a small frown as he looked at her. She seemed more fragile at that moment. “I’m not...you’re not the problem.” His tone held a promise to it. “I mean you are causing my current state, but not because of discomfort.”

She blinked, head tilting as she studied him some more, as if trying to see something more. He feared she was making use of this Second Sight he had heard she had access to. 

“Is it so far fetched that I would find you attractive?” He asked, his voice low. He was fairly certain he had used the right word to describe it. Part of him hoped she hadn’t heard or that he had mistranslated. In his time aboard the _Steadfast_ he had learned to be open, definitely more straightforward than he had been under the Empire.

Those red eyes blinked, and he swore he noted a deeper shade of blue in her cheeks. “I see,” she responded cautiously.

“I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable,” he began, readying himself for rejection. He’d known it too often to believe anything else could come. “I have no…”  
Her lips were on his. Body rigid, breath caught in his lungs, in his throat. Eli felt like he could choke on air, but that would ruin the moment, and he didn’t want to do that. Though only milliseconds were passing, he felt like it took minutes to close his eyes and slowly ease against her. A few more before his lips moved to brush hers. And then it was done.

“Oh.”  
Beneath the surface he was kicking himself as he watched her like some poor defenseless creature caught in the crossfire. 

“You’re... _csop_ ”

Eli couldn’t stop the laughter that escaped him when he deciphered the word she had used. Though his Cheuhn had grown much since his time alongside them, he still struggled every so often. Of all the things she could have called him. “I can accept that over other less endearing terms.”  
He had definitely heard worse. Though not necessarily bad, he had been used to terms like _ch'atetin'bot_ following him around. Foreigner. They weren’t wrong, though at least earning some respect hadn’t taken as long as it had Thrawn amid the Empire, and even now, he was certain his mentor struggled. To most he was a traitor back home, and though he knew otherwise, he disliked how it reflected on his family and friends, on his mentor. And here, what she had done, how would his standing reflect on her? Would they doubt his research on her?

“I can think of other terms to use,” she chimed, a small curl upwards from the corner of her lips, though her teeth remained hidden. “Perhaps I can extend your vocabulary.” Her breath was hot against his ear, forcing him to swallow down again.

His heart was racing, feeling as though it struggled against the inside of his ribs. “Is my Cheuhn unsatisfactory?”

Rather than use words her lips were on his ear lobe, sending a sensation rippling down his spine. Though he had imagined that very action on a number of occasions, he found himself taking a step back, his hands moving to settle on her biceps to keep her at arms length if only for a moment.

“Vah’nya,” there was a hint of warning in his tone.

“Was that not something you desired?”

Of course it was, which was why he had to pause. “No,” he began. “I mean yes, but not here,” he pulled her to the side, glancing around feeling somewhat relieved that no gazes were on them. He’d imagined her lips on a number of parts of his. Reality was a far different concept. Especially in such a public area, with so many variables he couldn’t factor in. On the ship, his crew mates knew him, they were brothers and sisters in arms. There was trust. In this room, he was still nothing more than a human outsider to be held at arm’s length, no matter how much Admiral Ar’alani vouched for him.

“Let’s get a drink,” he offered, needing to step away from the crowd, to take a moment to refocus his thoughts and buy himself a few moments.

“Do you not wish to discuss this further?”

“A moment,” he repeated the words he had heard Thrawn say many times over in situations where he required a few more moments.

She nodded, following him to the bar. He didn’t need any form of Sight to see every step she made. He felt them without seeing them. Eli had always been hyper aware of her presence, but more so now that he’d felt her tongue against his flesh. 

With a drink in hand, he sipped it and finally turned to look at his ship’s navigator. “Are you using the...to…” No he didn’t want to know. “Why me?” he asked instead. At the end of the day, it was what would decide his next move.

Another of her smiles had his breath catch in his throat. “You’re different,” she said honestly. “The way you speak to me, look at me,” she admitted, taking a moment to bite her lower lip. “You treat me like a person. You’ve gotten to know me, helped me when you could have easily just ignored me. I trust you.”

Eli took a drink of his cup. “Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why do you trust me? You’ve said so yourself, I’m of neither side.”

Vah’nya took his hand. “Which has its advantages, Lieutenant Commander Eli’van’to.” She paused. “After our last battle, and your promise to me,” she placed his hand on her heart. “You may have begun Imperial, but you are also a member of the Chiss Ascendancy now. No one on the _Steadfast_ would doubt you. If you’re not comfortable with me...”

“No,” he said quickly, bringing her hand to his heart instead. “I trust you,” he responded in kind. “I just,” he swallowed unsure how to speak. “I’ve focused on my career so long, I’ve never truly...considered this…” He motioned between them. “Not just us just in general.”

Understanding seemed to cross her features. “I see.” It was her turn to nod. “We don’t have to do anything you’re not comfortable with.”

Eli suppressed a laugh. “I appreciate that.”


End file.
